The "Principe di Piemonte" school building in Lacco Ameno, on the island of Ischia, was renovated after the 2017 earthquake and reopened in November 2024. Months later, new defects required further work, and the municipal council was called to discuss a council inquiry into the earlier works.
The case concerns a public school building that had undergone structural renovation and upgrading following the earthquake. According to Il Mattino and local reporting by Teleischia, the school was reopened and inaugurated in November 2024, but subsequent problems led to additional interventions and to the proposal for an administrative fact-finding inquiry.
Roof problems and water infiltration
Among the problems reported after the reopening were defects affecting the roof, with water infiltration during bad weather, as reported by Teleischia. The sources in this dossier do not provide an independent technical assessment of the cause of those defects.
The municipality's public works department includes public construction and school maintenance among its responsibilities, according to the Comune di Lacco Ameno.
Urgent works and reported costs
Teleischia reports that the works completed before the November 2024 reopening cost more than 4 million euros. That figure is attributed to Teleischia's reporting; the research dossier does not include a tender document or official final expenditure statement confirming it.
Separately, Teleischia reports that the Comune awarded urgent extraordinary maintenance worth about 25,000 euros with the aim of supporting reopening for the 2026 school year. Complete details of the individual works carried out, related testing and their final effectiveness are not available in the sources acquired.
A proposed council inquiry
The municipal council was convened to discuss establishing an administrative and fact-finding council inquiry commission.
The proposed inquiry would examine the procedures followed, the technical and administrative documentation, the execution of the works and the reasons that made new works necessary. That scope reflects the proposal as reported; the available sources do not confirm whether the commission was formally established or what conclusions, if any, it has reached.
What to watch next
For readers following the story, two points matter most.
First, what the inquiry would review: procedures, project and administrative records, how the works were executed, and why further repairs were needed shortly after a major renovation. These are the areas identified in the proposal reported by Il Mattino.
Second, what remains unverified: the sources do not independently document technical or administrative responsibility for the defects, nor do they establish whether the problems have been formally classified as design discrepancies or execution defects. The final cost, the results of testing and the long-term effectiveness of the urgent repairs are also not documented in the acquired sources.
